March 18, 2006
Head Coach Gary Blair and selected players met with members of the media on Saturday at the NCAA pre-tournament press conference held at Sovereign Bank Arena.
Click the links to the right to listen to the press conference. Quotes are posted below.
Gary Blair Press Conference Quotes
Opening statement...
"As you can see, I brought my post players with me. We are a perimeter-oriented team. I don't think the Big 12 has gotten the recognition they normally get. I think A&M has had a very good season this year. We went 11-5, 23-8 with no bad losses at all. I'm proud of these kids. We're going to probably be starting three freshmen and two sophomores tomorrow, or three sophomores and two freshmen. That makes us the youngest team in the tourney alongside UC Riverside. To play in the Big 12 with this many young kids, you've got to have a lot of trust. We make mistakes, but we make things happen. We like to play pressure defense, whether it's full court of half court. It's sort of funny...during the course of the year I've always talked to them about two teams that we sort of emulate, and that's Rutgers and Temple. Both of them are here. I think we all play the same style of defense. When you're young, you're not going to be as good offensively as what you should be at this time in their careers. And we're not. But we're getting better and better, particularly from last year. This kid (Aqua Franklin) started every game for me last year at the point. Now she's a sophomore, and one of the better ones in the Big 12. We're happy to be here. It's been a great year so far, but we've got our hands full tomorrow with TCU."
What do you see out of TCU?
"I think they're a mirror image of us. They've had the opportunity, though, to play with a Kodak All-American the last four years in Erwin. She's gone. But those guards are used to throwing it in to Erwin and used to being in the NCAA Tourney. That's the advantage they have, six straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and most of their kids have played in at least in two tournaments. They are a perimeter-oriented team. Lacy is a big guard, she sort of reminds you of Poindexter (Rutgers) with what she can do. Ross is a kid very similar to (A&M's Takia) Starks. I think it's going to be a great matchup. Inside, we both struggle. We don't know who's going to be hot. We don't have a clue and I'm sure Jeff (Mittie, TCU coach) doesn't either. Where's our points going to come from inside? Generally you have to do it by committee. We have lot of depth. We play nine kids, and I've got five more that could play. If we turn this into a pressing game, I'm going to need a lot of kids. But he can do same thing to me. Generally the adage is a pressing team does not like to be pressed. So which team folds the quickest on that? Because generally we haven't been pressed that much this year and I'm sure Jeff hasn't been either in his league because he's so athletic as well."
The Georgia coach said you're something of a student of the bracket. You started off today saying the Big 12 didn't get the respect you thought it deserved...can you expand on that?
"Basically, we were picked seventh in the league. Both Texas and Texas Tech were picked in the Top 20 to start the year. Both played a Tennessee-type of non-conference schedule. Tech had an injury and lost really one of their best players. Texas lost two to ACLs and just didn't play well. All of a sudden, A&M played well. All of a sudden, Missouri played well. Oklahoma had the type of year that was just unbelievable, to run the table in any conference...nobody else did that. Not North Carolina, not Ohio State, not Tennessee. Nobody did. Sometimes the rest of the conference is penalized because they think because Oklahoma was so good everybody else was that bad. We played the schedule, not as well as Texas or Texas Tech, but we beat them three out of four times. I think we should have at least had a fifth team in there. We were third in RPI all year. Yes, our league had lot of young players in there, perhaps more of any other because of the great recruiting classes. Texas was No. 1 last year and Oklahoma was No. 2 in recruiting. Sometimes you're penalized. There needs to be a little more parity. I wasn't happy with the whole bracket, but I was happy that we were in it. This is the hardest bracket they've ever had in the history of women's basketball, the bracket that we're in. It doesn't bother me as much or Coach Mittie as much as it's going to bother the North Carolinas and the Rutgers and the Tennessees and the Purdues that are all up there in the top four. I just can't see the reasoning. You've got the No. 1 team in nation. You've got the No. 1 2-seed in nation. You've got the No. 1 3-seed in the nation, and you probably have the No. 1 4-seed in the nation. All lumped together. But, when you start doing the safety nets and all of this, sometimes that happens. You've just got to play your way out of it. Whoever plays their way out this ...and where you going to put Georgia? My gosh, they're pretty dog gone good."
Do you find it kind of funny that you have to come a couple of thousand miles and play another Texas team and a guy you know pretty well?
"Yes, I do, but at the same time we do not mind that. We're on spring break back home...when you're going dancing and you can say you're coming to New Jersey, the home of the Sopranos, and you can come to New York City...hey, I enjoy the dance. It's funny, when we were checking into our hotel last night, they had a junior prom going on. All these kids were starting to leave, and I said, 'Those kids have been to a dance.' Our kids are excited to be here. This is special. We're the only team in the country that's done Hawaii this year, Vegas this year, and New York City this year. Now that's pretty special, right there. We're doing Europe this summer. I've had a hell of a ride."
It was suggested in sort of a snide headline in a New York paper this week that coaches didn't have the right to complain about the brackets and you have to take what's dealt to you and don't say anything. Does that seem right to you?
"No. I think it's our profession. It's what we do. Vivian (Stringer, Rutgers head coach) has every right to make a complaint. Pat Summit has every right to make a complaint. I remember about five years ago, when Andy (Landers, Georgia head coach) did not get the No. 1 seed, so instead of placing him against the last No. 1 seed, they put him over there with whoever the best team was. It's just not right. Hey, they didn't ask me, but one thing I think would be very good is if the committee would let basketball coach who's retired, somebody similar to say Marsha Sharp to come in and not have a vote but talk to them as a coach instead of an administrator, and say 'Hey, I know all of those things that could go down.' But all of sudden you just hear a different perspective. Hey, none of y'all going to be replaced by computers. We're not going to be replaced by computers. It's still a human game. We want to read what you write. I think they do a pretty good job of getting the best 64 teams. Sometimes due to safety nets that are not explained on TV, perhaps that would help coaches understand some of the problems."
Did you use the fact that you were picked seventh in the Big 12 as you went through the season?
"We were just on a ride this year. I stayed pretty positive. We coached them hard. I was coaching them as hard over there today as I did on the first day. And I didn't like what I saw. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe they play better tomorrow. We needed to move up into the Big 12. That Big 12 South, that's a conference in itself. You play all those teams twice. Four of them started in the top 20, two of them finished there and two didn't. And we did. That's what we used as motivation. We needed to catch the Texases and the Texas Techs. Oklahoma and Baylor are just a little better than us right now. Remember, when you come to the dance...did any of you have Baylor and Michigan State for your final two last year? You didn't. It's the teams that play the best, not who is best."
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having a young team here...
"We're extremely hungry. We don't know what failure is about. There's no failure on this team. They're not Parade All-Americans, but all were very good high school players. They were on national championship AAU teams. They only know what winning's about. Sometimes, when you also have young team and allow your seniors respect and dignity even when they're not starting...that's a key to this team. How many teams can take their two seniors, who have been 2-year starters, and put them on the bench and still have chemistry and morale? That's the strength of having this youth in here right now. My captains are sophomores. I just love the young kids. We make mistakes. My hair gets as grey as yours. It just blows my mind sometimes, because it's March, we shouldn't be making those mistakes. That's what youth will do. But youth on defense, we're going to play harder than anybody here. We may not play better, but we're sure going to play harder."
Have you told them anything about what to expect or do you need to tell them?
"The other night, when we were watching the men's game I pulled out our (Arkansas) 1998 highlight film, when we spent 13 days out on the west coast. We were Good Morning America's team, because we'd finish games at 2:30 eastern time, so nobody knew anything about us. I showed them that whole film and showed them how much fun it was. We were a true Cinderella team. We were 7-7 in the SEC and tied for 6th. We were the lowest seed to ever make it. Is this team better? Not near as smart as the '98 team, but more talented. We have more depth. Can we get on a roll? You've got to have luck. You've got to get few calls to go your way. We've got chemistry. Our kids can take coaching. Can we make that run? Somebody's going to make that run that no one was expecting. Who is it going to be this year? Could it be a team like us, in the hardest region ever? Who knows? Could it be Rutgers, who might be the best defensive team in the country? In the NCAAs, they allow you to play more than they do during the regular season. The refs don't blow that whistle near as much, so teams that are more physical can go a little bit further in this."
A&M Player Press Conference Quotes
Talk about the youth of this team at the NCAAs...what are the advantages and what are the disadvantages coming in with no NCAA Tournament experience?
MORENIKE ATUNRASE: "I think ending last year with postseason play, making it to the WNIT, I think that gave us a little boost for this year and kind of expect what we should face coming in the tourney. Yeah were young, but if we keep doing what got us here I think it can take us further."
AQUA FRANKLIN: "Basically if we just keep playing pressure defense and intense defense...if we keep doing what we've been doing to get here, it will help us during the tourney."
Erica, as one of the few seniors, talk about what you see in the youth for the future of the program...
ERICA ROY: "Just that our whole team is very talented and we carry each other every day in practice. That will carry over to next year. Coming to the NCAAs this year will add to experience for next year."
For a program that hasn't made the tourney in 10 years, is there a danger in just being satisfied with making the tourney?
MORENIKE ATUNRASE: "I think this is a great year for both programs. As a team we went to Coach Blair's house and watched the men's game (on Thursday). They defeated a great powerhouse. That game gave us even more of a boost of confidence on our end. If we can't spark up on that, then something's wrong."
AQUA FRANKLIN: "Our little quote as a team is 'No Limit, Texas Aggies.' I take that and go with it. We have no limit, and we have no set goal of just making it to NCAAs. We want to go in and take one game at a time and see where we can go from there."
Yesterday you got to check out Times Square and the ESPN Zone. How was that?
MORENIKE ATUNRASE: "I enjoyed it. This is my first time up north, period. I really like it. I see my future here (laughing). I enjoyed it, the people were nice."
AQUA FRANKLIN: "I've been here before and have a lot of family here. I enjoyed watching my teammates see how it was downtown and it was a great experience."
ERICA ROY: "I've always wanted to come here. When I heard we were coming to New Jersey and heard we had a chance to come to New York, I was all for it."